UN Foundation Commends Rotary International For Their Leadership in the Global Fight to Eradicate Polio

Statement by Ted Turner, Chairman of the Board of Directors

November 26, 2007

“We applaud the major announcement today by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to help Rotary International launch a final push to mobilize public concern and private contributions to help eradicate polio. We’re almost there. Polio is only endemic in four countries and this matching grant of $100 million will help to eliminate this preventable, crippling disease.

With this renewed attention and support, Rotary will continue its work with the Global Polio Eradication Initiative led by the World Health Organization, UNICEF and the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This tremendous group effort has helped to drive the number of polio cases down from more than 350,000 to less than 1,000—a drop of more than 99 percent.

The UN Foundation is proud to have been involved in this effort for the past decade, and we are strongly committed to work with Rotary to ensure that the global effort has the resources needed to send polio the way of small pox and eliminate it from the planet.”

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About the United Nations FoundationThe UN Foundation, created in 1998 with entrepreneur and philanthropist Ted Turner’s historic $1 billion gift to support UN causes and activities, builds and implements public-private partnerships that address the world’s most pressing problems. Its partnerships and campaigns have global reach, and cut across diverse issue areas, including: protecting biodiversity and promoting sustainable development; providing insecticide-treated bed nets to prevent the spread of malaria in Africa; and increasing access to technology for international humanitarian relief and public health workers. For more information about the United Nations Foundation, visit www.unfoundation.org.